John Oliver is better equipped for his Pabst Theater show Friday than most comedians who come to town.

The 34-year-old Englishman has hilariously covered some of Wisconsin's wildest political stories as a writer and correspondent for "The Daily Show with Jon Stewart," (see clips below) and frequently collaborated with Milwaukee export Dan Harmon, playing professor Ian Duncan on Harmon's ingenious NBC sitcom, "Community."

But it's Oliver's exposure to Wisconsin's frigid climate while covering the budget protests last February that will best help him endure Milwaukee in January.

"I feel like I'm prepared emotionally to perform in a state like I've never been prepared before," Oliver said in a recent phone interview from New York. "When you're exposed to some slightly crazy people in arctic conditions, there's no way the state can hurt me now."

"The Daily Show," and Oliver in particular, had a field day with last year's Wisconsin budget saga, which it dubbed "Crisis in Dairyland"; no show or comedian mocked the madness better. But Oliver's "first taste of Milwaukee" was in 2010, when he flew to town for a segment on Ieshuh Griffin's doomed race for the city's 10th District Assembly seat and her legal crusade to have her slogan, "NOT the 'whiteman's bitch' " appear on the ballot.

"A lot of field pieces are quite difficult to do, but that one was refreshingly easy," Oliver said. "It was already funny, and she was incredibly warm and good to work with us."

Oliver did what he's done best since joining "The Daily Show" in 2006: He played the segment straight and dry to underscore the situation's absurdity, while throwing in some funny curveballs such as staging a political commercial featuring Griffin's second choice for a slogan, "New Booty."

Madison protesters

Oliver's Madison segment also surprised. While sympathetic toward the protesters, Oliver wasn't afraid to satirize those protesters who were inadvertently hurting the cause, including a man who brandished a "Stop Walker" sign with a swastika. It's such stances that make "The Daily Show," and Oliver himself, such insightful comic voices.

Oliver's best Wisconsin bit was last March when he went to Rockford, Ill., to find the 14 Democratic Wisconsin state senators who fled to protest legislation to weaken union rights for public workers. Oliver's witty segment likened the city to a lawless land in the Middle East, depicting a Taco Bell drive-through as a checkpoint and tossing candy to swarms of children surrounding his car.

When Oliver scored a meeting with state Sen. Jon Erpenbach, Oliver made him look like a terrorist, suggesting he had the "eyes of purest evil" and dubbing his voice to make it sound as though Erpenbach said "Wisconsin cheese will run red with blood."

"It was hilarious and unbelievably creative," Erpenbach said recently in a phone interview about the segment and his time with Oliver. "There were some things that were much more funny that didn't make it, probably because I was laughing so hard."

Fresh perspective

On paper, it might seem surprising that "The Daily Show" would pluck a comedian from a stage career in England for a show so overtly focused on American politics. But Oliver says the British accent helps with his "Daily" portrayal of an inflammatory, arrogant news reporter, and his upbringing overseas gives him a fresh perspective.

"It really helps a comedian to be an outsider," he said.

On "Daily," he's become as central to the show's success as former correspondents Stephen Colbert, Steve Carell and Stewart himself.

"It's my favorite thing in the world," Oliver said of "Daily." The only drawback is that it's time-consuming; Oliver hasn't even had time to make an appearance on the current season of "Community," although he's still fanatical about the show and Harmon.

"He is passionate to a fault about his writing," Oliver said of Harmon. "You will not find a funnier, more mentally self-destructive person who will sacrifice everything in his day to make a joke better, to make one line as perfectly funny as you can, and almost doom himself to failure because he's never fully happy with it. That's why his scripts are so good."

Nevertheless, Oliver said he's had to find room in his schedule for stand-up or he'd be tense otherwise.

"I find stand-up quite relaxing," he said - a far different interpretation than comedian Patton Oswalt, who in a Journal Sentinel interview last year called stand-up a "fascist outpost."

Oliver counters with his own colorful description.

"It's like heroin. It's not good for you, it's corrosive for your personal life, but once you try it and love it, you have to do it."